Farewell | What is life? A coming and a disappearing

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by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Abschied

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

  Was ist das Leben? Kommen nur und Schwinden,
Ein Wechsel nur von Nacht und Tageshelle, 
Verlust und Schmerz, Sehnsucht und Wiederfinden,
So schwebt durch Traum und Wachen hin die Welle --
Drum lächelt hoffend in der Trennung Wehen
Durch Abschiedsthränen schon das Wiedersehen.

Confirmed with Ludwig Tiecks ausgewählte Werke, mit einer Einleitung von Heinrich Welti, Achter Band, Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung, Gebrüder Kröner Verlagshandlung, [1833], page 252.

Text Authorship:

by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), "Abschied" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Abschied" [ voice and piano ], unpublished [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Farewell", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2021-03-25
Line count: 6
Word count: 43

Farewell

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

  What is life? A coming and a disappearing,
Only an alternation of night and daytime brightness,
Loss and pain, yearning and finding again,
Thus the wave wafts through dream and waking --
In the woes of separation, therefore, reunion
Already smiles hopefully through the tears of parting.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), "Abschied"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2021-03-25
Line count: 6
Word count: 47